Josh Creek
ff725e1ffa
"Spectate now, take the slot at the next kickoff" was a print statement. The server logged it and never acted; on the client, _is_spectator was assigned once in _on_match_config_received and never revisited - and that handler returns early whenever _slots is non-empty, so no rebroadcast could promote an in-match spectator. The reconnect path only worked because a returning player is a fresh process. Server: late joiners are queued in arrival order and the queue is drained from _begin_kickoff, before the reset transforms are read, so a promoted player's ship is placed by that same kickoff and the controller swap lands on an already-frozen body. A slot is available only once its player has gone AND their 30s reservation has lapsed - §6.4 outranks §6.3, since taking a reserved slot would quietly break the reconnect promise. _abort_if_abandoned now counts a waiting spectator as somebody present, or the one person queued for the slot that just opened is dumped to the lobby at the moment they were about to get it. Client: new broadcast slot_assigned (reliable, channel 0). Broadcast because every client holds its own slot list and one naming the wrong peer keeps flying somebody else's ship as a remote body; reliable because no per-snapshot field would re-converge a client that missed it. The promoted client undoes what made the body remote - fresh interpolator, physics interpolation back on, offsets cleared - and deliberately does not unfreeze, clearing _local_prediction_ready so the next snapshot teleports it to a real authoritative pose first. The controller-attach block moved to _take_local_ownership rather than being copied. New --role=host-latejoin/--role=client-latejoin and --slot-reservation-seconds=. Verified 4/4 both sides: queued, NOT promoted merely because the reservation lapsed, takes the slot at the kickoff, same ship instance, and both peers independently measure ~45.7m under its input. Control with a 90s reservation: kickoff fires, nothing is promoted, the slot still reads the departed player's name.
Cosmic Clash
In "Cosmic Clash," the heart-pounding action takes place in variable gravity environments where vehicles hover just above the ground. In this thrilling spiritual successor to Rocket League, players engage in high-speed, gravity-defying matches set in the far reaches of space. Each pitch is situated in a unique environment or planet, offering breathtaking vistas and challenging terrain. But instead of cars, competitors pilot rocket-powered ships, each equipped with its own set of customisable features and special abilities.
Ships hover just above the ground, defying the laws of physics and adding an extra layer of intensity to the gameplay. With no friction to hold them back, players must master the art of control as they glide effortlessly across the pitch, executing precise manoeuvres and lightning-fast aerial tricks. With precise control and lightning-fast reflexes, players boost, drift, slam and even turn upside down on their way to victory, scoring epic goals against their opponents.
Whether you're soaring through asteroid fields, navigating treacherous alien landscapes, or battling in the depths of cosmic storms, "Cosmic Clash" delivers non-stop action and adrenaline-pumping excitement that's out of this world! Get ready to take your skills to the stars and dominate the galaxy in the ultimate celestial showdown!
Reason for being
Since Epic Games bought Psyonix, Rocket League has never been the same, and rather than releasing an Unreal Engine 5 version of the game, or giving any meaningful updates, instead item trading was removed and 'Rocket Racing' was added to Fortnite. With no one else stepping up to the plate, it falls to the Open Source Community to come up with a spiritual successor, to keep the spirit of the game alive.
Legality
The concept of 'vehicle soccer' cannot be copyrighted, but the original expression of ideas such as the specific code, art, music and narrative of a game can be. So long as all code, assets game design and other elements are made from scratch, this project will remain legal. The use of an alternative game engine, Godot, serves to ensure that this is achieved, as does the move to using space ships instead of cars as the vehicles.
Technical Information
This project is composed of two parts:
- Godot game
- C# backend
Contributing
Eventually there will be contributor guidelines, but for now open a PR and make sure it has been formatted according to the auto-formatting rules.
Gameplay
The core gameplay is still football/soccer but with vehicles, however there are key changes to the format used in Rocket League. The vehicles are now space ships, which hover above the surface of the pitch. This will impact core game mechanics, enabling near-immediate changes in direction (thanks to those spacefaring engines!), the ability to play upside down (which will change the way you interact with the ball in as-yet unknown ways), slamming down at full boost speed, and many more that will be discovered along the way.
Bots
There will be default bots available, trained using reinforcement learning, and it will be possible to train your own using a gym for submission to be included in the game itself. It will NOT be possible to connect bots to the game, and with the community itself ensuring rigorous anti-cheat measures are in place we will aim to keep it that way. Cheaters have no place here.
MVP
The first version of this game will be JUST the game, no server-side functionality at all. It will be a local only game where you can play against bots. Split-screen multiplayer could be added in a version 0.2 if demand is high enough. If there is sufficient interest then the server-side functionality can be added to enable online play, with a system in place to ensure that servers can be paid for (perhaps a cheap monthly subscription model?).
Monetisation
The aim for this project is NOT to monetise it. Rocket League saw terrible changes once the Item Shop was added, and even the costs for crates and keys prevented some members of the community from collecting items and fully enjoying the game. Instead, this game will, if it becomes successful enough to warrant online servers, only use funding to keep itself running, and in the event anyone needs to be employed full time to maintain it with a growing playerbase, to pay them a fair wage for their time. Any additional profit in any given year should be held for maintaining servers in the future should demand fall, or for any future needs of the game such as a large effort to upgrade to a new engine, anti-cheating measures, etc.